{"id":13252,"date":"2017-10-08T07:08:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=13252"},"modified":"2017-10-08T09:37:18","modified_gmt":"2017-10-08T13:37:18","slug":"going-out-on-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=13252","title":{"rendered":"Going Out On Top"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Yesterday, I led the best-ever ride for my motorcycle club that I have ever done. That was terrific because that ride was…
\n
\n…the last ride that I would lead as a Road Captain. As of today, I have “stepped down” from that role.<\/p>\n

Why did I stop serving as a Road Captain? This answer was provided on this past blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The day began bright and sunny and was forecast to reach the mid 80s (30C). I dressed in riding pants that I wore on my ride in Utah, long-sleeve t-shirt with my RevIT armored and ventilated high-viz ballistic nylon jacket<\/a>. What boots? Of course! My lug-soled Chippewa firefighters<\/a>, my favorite boots for riding.<\/p>\n

After a nice breakfast with the Spouse, I took an early-morning scoot to fill my Harley’s tank with gas. Then I returned home and got ready. I re-inserted my in-helmet speakers and checked the connection to my radio so I could communicate with other ride leaders who would join me on the ride.<\/p>\n

\"\"My favorite biker-cousin showed up, and we took off to the location designated for assembly. I was happy that 17 others also arrived for the ride — some saying that they wanted to be there to honor me for my last ride as a Road Captain. I was happy about that and to know that my friends were thoughtful enough to do that for me. After the usual safety briefing, we took off. <\/p>\n

\"\"I warned my fellow riders that this would be a slow ride because I do not like to ride fast. We’re out to see the scenery, not to get to the destination fastest. I also don’t take right turns well due to an old skydiving injury, so their patience with my slow turns at some spots would be appreciated.<\/p>\n

I was thrilled that the ride went exactly as planned. I did not take a wrong turn or get lost once! First time in three years that I have not taken a wrong turn somewhere. (Talk about going out on top!)<\/p>\n

\"\"We had a great lunch at a small town diner that has fantastic home-made comfort food.<\/p>\n

After lunch, we rode across the Catoctin Ridge with a state park on one side and a national park on another. The scenery again was beautiful.<\/p>\n

I mounted a GoPro on the rear of my Harley and set it to take a photo once every 30 seconds. The photos came out amazingly clear and detailed. Thanks, loyal blog reader from Toronto for the great tips on using a GoPro that way.<\/p>\n

\"\"We stopped briefly at a covered bridge for a photo op. My cousin says that it is the most photographed covered bridge in Maryland. He just may be right.<\/p>\n

Then using GPS that (for the first time) didn’t fail me, we went to a place that serves soft ice cream to end the day’s ride. What would a ride with this club be without an ice cream stop on a warm afternoon?<\/p>\n

I truly enjoyed this ride and leading it. I put a lot of time into planning it. I am thrilled that it worked out so well.\"\"Life is short: Go out on top when the time is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I led the best-ever ride for my motorcycle club that I have ever done. That was terrific because that ride was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motorcycle-ride"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}